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[moshimoshi]

Hello! I'm writing a culture quiz for my students and was hoping that you guys might share some ideas with me. I'm looking for common misconceptions that Japanese have about other cultures.
The examples that I have below are about the US (because that's where I'm from) and 2/3 are restaurant questions (because I'm hungry right now and thinking of food, but not leaving because it's way too windy outside!), but I am looking to make this more of an international quiz. These are just a few examples of some of the misconceptions/differences that I have noticed. These three are false, but I have some true ones too!


1. In the United States, it is typical to tip your restaurant server (waitress) 5-10%.

FALSE: It is typical to tip your server 15-20% of the total bill. A 5-10% tip means that you thought the service was bad.


2. In the United States, it is acceptable to clap your hands to get your restaurant server's attention.

FALSE: Though this is not considered rude in Japan, it is very rude in the United States.


3. Americans don't take baths -- they shower.

FALSE: Though it is true that many Americans shower, it is also true that many take baths. It may be more common for women to take baths than men, but Americans do take baths.

Thanks a bunch!

[Lovechild]

I once spent three months in the U.S. and had lover at the time we ate out. She was working in a restaurant.
[quote="moshimoshi"]Hello! I'm writing a culture quiz for my students and was hoping that you guys might share some ideas with me. I'm looking for common misconceptions that Japanese have about other cultures.
The examples that I have below are about the US (because that's where I'm from) and 2/3 are restaurant questions (because I'm hungry right now and thinking of food, but not leaving because it's way too windy outside!), but I am looking to make this more of an international quiz. These are just a few examples of some of the misconceptions/differences that I have noticed. These three are false, but I have some true ones too!


1. In the United States, it is typical to tip your restaurant server (waitress) 5-10%.

FALSE: It is typical to tip your server 15-20% of the total bill. A 5-10% tip means that you thought the service was bad.

Disaggree somewhat!!!
Actually there is no limit on how much to leave as a tip. The more the better. No waiter or waitress will ever say, "No that is too much to leave!"

2. In the United States, it is acceptable to clap your hands to get your restaurant server's attention.

FALSE: Though this is not considered rude in Japan, it is very rude in the United States.

My answer:
Right you are suppose to snap your figures and say, "Hay you! I want service now!"


3. Americans don't take baths -- they shower.

FALSE: Though it is true that many Americans shower, it is also true that many take baths. It may be more common for women to take baths than men, but Americans do take baths.

This is surprise to me.

Here are some many of us Japanese believe about the outside world:

Most Americans have guns, and like to shoot people looking for holloween party!

One learned from Australian is that most men in New Zealand like to date sheep instead of going out with women.

Pizza is an American dish!

Most Americans only eat steak and pizza.

All Frenchmen cheat on their wives, and all Frenchwomen has done sex for money.

Well that's all I could think of for now.

[PAULH]

[moshimoshi]

Thanks. FYI, I was a restaurant and cocktail server while in college. I would have been quite offended if somebody snapped their fingers at me. I think the best way to get your server's attention in the US is to raise your hand and point up, smile, and politely say, "excuse me...." Thanks again.

[moshimoshi]

Wow...I guess ck-tail isn't acceptable language here. In case anybody was wondering what was in the censored part....I served martinis and other similar...um...drinks with alcohol.

[JimDunlop2]

That's interesting. If you manage to compile a good list, I wouldn't mind using it in my JHS gr3 class... Lemesee what I can contribute..... I will be a bit broader than just "misconceptions" if that's OK.. I'll include a bit of general trivia too.

(I'm Canadian BTW)

- In the winter, Canada is very, very cold!
FALSE. Some parts of Canada are very mild in the winter.

- Canada is very cold... Even in the summer!
FALSE. Many parts of Canada can easily reach temperatures in the mid 30s Celcius for much of the summer.

- Most Canadians speak French.
FALSE. There are communities all over Canada that speak French, and it is Canada's second official language but in fact, the number of people speaking French at home is closer to 23%.

- Canada is the second largest country in the world.
TRUE. Only Russia is bigger.

- In many Canadian cities, you cannot smoke. Even in restaurants or bars.
TRUE. This is becoming more and more common and is a common issue in municipal elections.

- Most Canadians come from either English or French families.
FALSE. This was the case a long time ago but today, Canadians come from everywhere in the world -- including Japan!

- There are many Japanese people living in Canada. They even have their own supermarkets and Buddhist temples.
TRUE. In fact, the city of Lethbridge even has an real Edo-period house and garden that was taken apart in Japan and re-built in Canada!

- Canada owns the North Pole. It's a part of Canada's Arctic.
FALSE. No one owns the North Pole right now, but in the past few years, Denmark has been trying to convince the United Nations that it is a part of Greenland (which is part of the Danish kingdom).

- The game of basketball was invented by a Canadian.
TRUE. It was invented by a YMCA teacher: James Naismith in 1891. Though the inventor was Canadian, the school where he worked was in the United States.

- Canadians live in igloos.
FALSE. Even most Inuit people in the far north don't live in igloos anymore. It remains as part of their culture and sometimes they build igloos on hunting trips, but most of of the time we all live in houses (and apartments).

- Canadians own more guns than Americans.
TRUE. Many people think that most Americans own guns (also not true) but in fact, Canadians own more guns than the Americans do!

- Hockey is Canada's official national sport.
FALSE. It's Lacrosse.

- The beaver is Canada's official animal.
TRUE.

- Most Canadians have, at least once in their lives been attacked by a bear!
FALSE. Even in Canada's many forests, bear attacks are very rare.

- Canadian Native people speak their own language.
TRUE. But They all speak English (or French) too. Over 53 different native languages exist in Canada but it is slowly dying out.

- Canadian Native people have long braided hair. Even the men.
FALSE. They used to, and some still do, but modern hairstyles are just as common.

- Canadians eat seal meat and cariboo meat.
FALSE. Some Native people still hunt for these animals, but most Canadians, even Native people usually eat modern, healthy diets.

- Most Canadian Natives live on special "reserves" from the government.
FALSE. Maybe about 50% live on reserves. The rest live in towns or cities.

Ok... I hope that some of that helps you out... I'll stop here... After all, this isn't a quiz only about Canada... Good luck.

P.S. Most of my data is from Stats Can and some from other websites.

[PAULH]

Japan culture quiz

1. Japanese is a unique language only to Japan.
FALSE Originally there was no written language in Japan during the Heian period and Japan imported Kanji from China. Nobles used to write poetry written in Chinese to show how educated they were,and it was women who started writing in hiragana.
2. Japanese is impossible for foreigners to learn
FALSE Japanese is a difficult language and is one of the five hardest languages in the world. A child born to foreign parents in Japan can pick up Japanese just as easily as a child born to Japanese parents.
3. All Japanese have black hair
Ever been down to Harajuku? Try and find someone with black hair. Children are also born with shades or brown or rust colored hair and are often made to dye it black at school.
4. There is no religion in Japan and japanese are not religious.
Japanese don�t go to church but they call themselves Buddhists or Shinto. Most houses have a Buddhist altar or they will visit a shrine at New year. Japanese are multitheistic which means they believe in many Gods, not just one, like Christians.
5. The Emperor of Japan is descended from the Sun God Amaterasu.
FALSE Excavation of imperial tombs show evidence of Korean influence, jewelry, crowns etc meaning they are descended from Korean royalty. The Emperor himself has already admitted the Korean link
6. Japanese are a peaceful people. During Muromachi period Japan was a group of warring states in a constant state of battle. From this sprung the samurai class. Ieyasu Tokugawa? was a shogun warlord.
We won't even talk about WWII
7. Japanese eat raw fish
TRUE but most fish is eaten with garnishs such as horse radish and soy sauce to augment the taste
8. Japanese are smaller than Americans
Seen Japanese sumo wrestlers lately? Young Japanese have also grown in height and weight compared to 20 years ago as a result of western diet and exercise
9. The Japanese invented the transistor
FALSE The transistor was invented in America (by Edison?) but it was the Japanese who mass marketed it, leading to development of the walkman
10. There is very little divorce in Japan
FALSE 700,000 divorces in japan every year or about 80 every hour in Japan. Highest rate of divorce is among the �grey population over 60.
11. Aids is a foreign disease and Japanese don�t get AIDs
FALSE AIDs is in Japan but just unreported. True rate is about 100 times the governmentt figures. AIDs and HIV here is an accident waiting to happen. AIDs is not a gay disease but transmitted through blood products.
12. Japanese practice safe sex.
FALSE. Consider the fact condoms are not widely used here, pill is virtually unobtainable and abortion is the favorite method of birth control. Non-existent sex education in schools.
13. There are four seasons in Japan
FALSE Japan has five, including �Tsuyu��. Every country has four seasons not just Japan
14. Japan can not have a female empress
FALSE Japan has had 3 or four Empresses, the last one during the Edo period. The present law saying the emperor must be a male came in during the 1950�s under the US occupation.
15. Only Japanese know how to use chopsticks.
FALSE. Chopsticks are also common in Korea and china.

[stillnosheep]

[PAULH]

TOKYO (AP) - Japan's divorce rate rose to a record high last year, reflecting an increasing number of middle-aged and older couples who are parting ways. The number of divorces rose for a 12th straight year in 2002, according to recently released government statistics that provided the latest confirmation that the stigma long associated with breaking up is fading in Japan. According to the nation's Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, a record 289,836 couples divorced last year, up 1.4 percent from the previous all-time high of 285,911 in 2001. That amounted to 2.3 divorces for every 1,000 people in Japan, also a record and more than double the rate of 1.07 in 1975. Behind the rise is an increasing number of couples who are parting ways after having been married for 20 years or more: They accounted for 15.7 percent of divorces in 2002, up from just 5.7 percent in 1975. Divorce was long seen as a social taboo in harmony-conscious Japan. A popular term for a person who has been divorced once - ``batsu ichi'' - translates to ``strike one.'' But that shame is slowly becoming a thing of the past, a trend attributed to changing values, including a growing rejection by women of sacrifices they were once expected to make in Japan's male-dominated society. ``Women in this country used to feel like they should put up with anything for the sake of their marriages,'' Yoriko Madoka, a national lawmaker who runs a divorce hotline, said on Wednesday. ``That kind of thinking has changed.'' Still, divorce remains a risky economic proposition for many Japanese women because of a lack of workplace opportunities, Madoka said. One trend given prominent media coverage in Japan involves older women who leave their husbands after the men retire and hang around the house all day. The generation of Japanese men now reaching retirement age typically spent most of their working lives apart from their wives, putting in long hours on the job or drinking with company colleagues.




November 5, 20

[PAULH]

-------------------------------------------------------------------
-- (2) American myths and propaganda about Japan

---- (2.1) MYTH: Japanese (Asians) have slanted eyes.
/////\\\\
an entry from | --- --- |
Tom Burnam. | \ / |
"The Dictionary of Misinformation". (| U |)
(Crowell, 1975): | ___ |
\_______/
slanted eyes of Orientals.
Although they may seem to, the eyes of Chinese, Japanese,
and other Orientals do not slant; they are, in fact, closer
to the horizontal than those of non-Orientals. The *effect*
is produced by a low nose bridge and the Mongolian, or
epicanthic, fold of the upper eyelid --- one of the very few
genuine "racial" characteristics, incidentally. Children of
Caucasian parents often show the apparent Mongolian slant
until the nasal bridge develops.

the author Burnam writes as though for EVERYONE Asians seem to
have slanted eyes. even after becoming familiar with American
cartoons, I have never felt Asians to have slanted eyes. I
suspect that this is an illusion produced by the strong belief
that "Asians have slanted eyes."

this indoctrination of "slant-eye Asians" begins very early on.
in children's book "The Badger and the Magic Fan"
("A Japanese Folktale adapted by Tony Johnston,
illustrated by Tomie dePaola", published by
G.P.Putnams's Sons, 1990),
all humans (13 persons) and animals (a badger and a pigeon) have
eyes that are narrow (slit-like) and slanted. I just sent
letters to the publisher and the illustrator (who's American).

I remember the surprise when I first learned that in the USA it
is common to draw Asian cartoon characters with slanted eyes.
it surprised me because (i) like most Japanese I have never
noticed Asians to have slanted eyes compared to whites or
blacks; and hence (ii) cartoonists in Japan never use the slant
of the eyes to mark the differences in races.
(an exception is when OTOMO Katsuhiro (of "Akira")
draws faces parodying American cartoons.)

unfortunately the author (Tom Burnam) does not provide his
sources in most cases. would you please let me know if you have
some good information on this subject, like a magazine article
claiming that Asians don't have slanted eyes?
(I'll check anthropology textbooks soon.)

|---------------------------------------------------------------
| "Sign Language Reflects Changing Sensibilities"
| (The New York Times, January 3, 1994)
|---------------------------------------------------------------
| WASHINGTON, Jan. 2 --- Perhaps as recently as two or three
| years ago, a deaf person would sign the word "Japanese" simply
| by twisting the little finger next to the eye.
| But today, many of the more than 200,000 people who use
| American Sign Language avoid using this sign because it is a
| graphic reference to a stereotypical physical feature, slanted
| eyes.
| Instead, many deaf people here are adopting the Japanese's
| sign for themselves: pressing the thumbs and index fingers of
| both hands together and then pulling them apart, carving the
| silhouette of Japan into the air.
|
| [the article describes other offensive signs and their new
| proposed alternates; for Chinese, Koreans, African-Americans,
| homosexuals, "stingy", Jewish, ... . the previous
| Russian sign for "American" was to suggest a big belly with one
| hand and simultaneously mouth the word "capitalism."]

=--------------------------------------------------------------------
---- (2.2) MYTH: Japanese are suicidal.

THE TRUTH: suicide rate in Japan is not unusually high compared to
other nations.

the following are some rough figures intended to show the
relative ranking, which has changed little during the last 30
years. (source: The Encyclopedia Americana (1992), etc)

(per 100,000 people)
Hungary 33
Austria, Sweden, Germany, Denmark 20
Switzerland 17

France, Belgium, Japan 15
New Zealand, USA, UK 10
Norway, Holland, Italy 5--8
...
Philippines 0.8
Mexico 0.7
Egypt 0.1

this shows that "suicide is unusually common in Japan" is
another myth created by the US media: over-emphasis of
seppuku (hara-kiri) and kamikaze (or "kamakazi") pilots; and
suicides of novelists like Mishima, Kawabata, etc.

=--------------------------------------------------------------------
MYTH: Japanese youth are suicidal.

American propaganda:
--- Edwin O. Reischauer. The Japanese Today. (1995) (Page 194)
"The relatively high suicide rates for youth may be in part
attributable to the `examination hell,' [...]"

--- "Japan's demanding education system causes teen suicides"
The Washington Post (March 9, 1990)

--- "Teen-age suicides shed light on brutal bullying in Japan"
LA Times (Dec 23, 1994)

--- etc, etc, ... ad nauseam.

THE TRUTH:
for 15-24 year olds, US suicide rate is about twice that of
Japan.

for 15-24 year olds, suicide rate in Japan is
--- lower than those of the USA, Australia, Canada, Denmark,
France, Germany, Poland, Sweden; and
--- higher than those of Italy, Netherlands, the UK.

source: "Statistical Abstracts of the United States: 1994"
Table No. 1360, which notes its source as WHO (1989-1991).

according to Statistical Abstracts (and WHO), suicide rate
among youth has been rising in the USA and falling in Japan
since the late 1960s. it has been higher in the USA than in
Japan since 1981 or so.

=--------------------------------------------------------------------
---- (2.3) MYTH: Japanese are sneaky and unfair as proved by the "sneak ...
attack" on Pearl Harbor, and how they now "sweep history under
the carpet".

this and the following entry (2.4) are among the pillars of the
100 years of American "yellow peril" journalism.

from [booklet, "Asian Pacific Americans" 1988] (see (bibliography))
|
| yellow peril --- Used to describe Asian Pacific Americans as
| a great threat to Western Civilization. The term gained
| appeal in the 1880s, used by some newspapers and
| politicians to whip up racism against Asian Pacific
| immigrants, who were portrayed as taking jobs from whites
| or were poised to invade the United States. [...]

MYTH: the Pearl Harbor attack was sneaky and unfair.

THE TRUTH:
in a forthcoming article (see (bibliography)) I will show the
fallacy of this propaganda and myth.

very briefly, the bases of my arguments are as follows:

[1] beginning a war with a surprise attack, without (or before)
a declaration is the way the USA and Japan have usually
fought wars. all surprise attacks are sneaky. the Pearl
Harbor attack was no more sneaky or unfair than the US
surprise attacks on Native Americans, Cuba (1961), and
Grenada (1983).

[2] the attack was not a surprise to the US politicians.

[3] it is false that the Pearl Harbor attack was successful
only because it was a surprise attack.
(many Americans believe that Japanese can outperform
Americans only by cheating.)

[4] some people seem to believe that the Pearl Harbor attack
was unusually savage or cruel. that is completely false.
the attack was a precise maneuver targeting only military
installations. of the approximately 2400 Americans killed
in the attack, 68 were civilians, almost all of whom were
employees of the military. later US bombings of Japanese
cities resulted in about 1 million deaths of Japanese
civilians.

it is completely understandable that such unfair propaganda
(promoting the idea of "evil, sneaky Japs" using the
example of the Pearl Harbor attack)
was used during the war. it is NOT reasonable that this
propaganda is still going on TODAY, decades after the war.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
MYTH: Japan sweeps history under the carpet.

in the recent years the propaganda of Japanese "sneak attack" on
Pearl Harbor has often been coupled with another American
propaganda (see, for example, "Sweeping History Under the
Carpet", Newsweek, November 25, 1991).

US media is trying to spread these notions:
(i) the Japanese government is trying to distort its history
regarding its invasions in the WW2.
(ii) Japan is trying to make its young ignorant of its shameful
past or to impart to them a distorted version of history.

THE TRUTH:
in the forthcoming article I will show that this is a false
characterization.
(I am NOT saying that teaching of history (regarding
its own invasions and shameful past) in Japanese
schools is good. it is not. but it is better than
that in US schools.)

based on my experience of being a student in American schools
(middle school, high school, graduate school) and Japanese
schools (elementary school, middle school, university, graduate
school), I will show that, in reality, Japan is doing a better
job of educating its young about its shameful past than the USA
is. this difference results in Japanese being more pacifist
and Americans being more warlike.

here i'll give just one example showing that the American
notion of "Japan sweeping history under the carpet" is false.
in August 1995 Prime Minister Murayama issued the following
statement, which (after some initial opposition) was uniformly
accepted in Japan. he also made a similar statement in the
previous August.

|--------------------------------------------------------------------
| http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/aniv.html
|
| Statement by Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama on the
| 50th Anniversary of the End of the War, 15 August 1995
|
| [...] During a certain period in the not too distant past,
| Japan, following a mistaken national policy, advanced along the
| road to war, only to ensnare the Japanese people in a fateful
| crisis, and, through its colonial rule and aggression, caused
| tremendous damage and suffering to the people of many
| countries, particularly to those of Asian nations. In the hope
| that no such mistake be made in the future, I regard, in a
| spirit of humility, these irrefutable facts of history, and
| express here once again my feelings of deep remorse and state
| my heartfelt apology. Allow me also to express my feelings of
| profound mourning for all victims, both at home and abroad, of
| that history. [...]
|--------------------------------------------------------------------

a US President has NEVER made a similar statement about the US
invasions/genocides (in North America, Philippines, Japan, Korea,
Vietnam, ...).

I (like most Japanese) know that the Japanese Imperial Army
did hideous things in China and the rest of Asia, so you don't
have to tell me. I've read books by HONDA Katuiti and others,
and I've also helped in the efforts to stop the Japanese
government's authorization (censorship) of history textbooks, a
movement led by IENAGA Saburou.
(in Japan there is government's authorization of
history textbooks similar to ones in the USA. see Joan
DelFattore "What Johnny shouldn't read: textbook
censorship in America", Yale Univ Press, 1992.)

=--------------------------------------------------------------------
---- (2.4) MYTH: Japanese are sneaky and unfair as proved by their unfair ...
business practices.

from "Yellow-peril journalism --- Is latent racism coloring
business coverage of Japan?" (TIME, November 27, 1989):
| [...]
| Even so, Japanese direct investment was only one-fourth that of
| all Europe, about half that of Great Britain and roughly equal
| to that of the Netherlands. Nor was it any more one-sided than
| that of the Dutch. Neither Japanese nor any other country
| immanently threatens to gain economic control over the U.S.,
| whose nonbank multinational corporations have assets totaling
| well over $5 trillion.
| Dismaying though the financial trends concerning Japan may
| be, economics alone cannot explain the current media attitude
| any more than the immigration levels of the early 1900s could
| explain the Nippon hysteria of those years.
| [...]
(more excerpts in my WWW site. see Section (A) for access
information.)

see also Endymion Wilkinson, "Japan versus the West: image and
reality" (see (bibliography)). Part IV deals with economic
frictions.

=--------------------------------------------------------------------
---- (2.5) MYTH: Japanese are completely different from Americans and ...
inscrutable.

THE TRUTH: not so different.

to me, Japanese and American peoples are more alike than different:
both are hard-working, practically-minded, and socially and
politically conservative. (Japan and the USA are among the most
prominent of the Western capitalist nations.)

---- (2.5.1) Benedict-Reischauer model of Japan as the polar opposite of
the USA, which has dominated American academia and journalism.

however, American media and academia like to depict Japanese as
completely different (diametrically opposite) and "inscrutable".
this has been a consistent pattern in the Western depiction of Japan
for centuries, culminating in Ruth Benedict's "Chrysanthemum and the
Sword", which contrasted the Western culture of "sin" vs the
Japanese culture of "shame". another common contrast is
"individualist" vs "group-oriented" (see the quote from Reischauer
below).

(Japanese authors are similarly guilty in this respect.
--- NAKANE Chie's "tate shakai no ningen kankei" (English tr.
"Japanese society") contrasts the Western "horizontal"
society vs the Japanese "vertical" society.
--- DOI Takeo's "amae no kouzou" (English tr. "The anatomy of
dependence") exaggerates the differences between the
cultures.
if AMAE really is a unique Japanese concept that can not
be translated into English, why not use AMAE in the
title of the English version?)

even Karel van Wolferen (Dutch journalist who showed his excellent
understanding of the Japanese society in [book] "The enigma of
Japanese power") exclaims, "Inside Japan, nothing is quite as it
seems." (printed on the dust jacket of the book, Macmillan edition)

I suppose this is due to journalistic exaggeration and appeal to the
exotic.
in [book] "Human Universals" Donald E. Brown describes how
anthropologists tend to over-emphasize the differences when
reporting customs of "exotic" peoples. he beautifully
illustrates this by taking a scene describing a foreign
custom where the reporter was trying to highlight the
differences, and noting the underlying commonalities in that
very description.

---- (2.5.2) "Kung Fu", proverbs

one way this notion of "completely different (diametric opposite)"
is reinforced is through TV shows, such as "Kung Fu". this popular
TV show has been spreading the following message to Americans, young
and old, for decades:
Chinese (and all other Asians) are completely different from
Americans and inscrutable, that Asians operate under some
kind of weird, exotic "Oriental logic" (symbolized by the
cheap, fortune-cookie riddles used in the show) that
reasonable, civilized Westerners can NEVER hope to understand.

another way this notion of "completely different (diametric opposite)"
is reinforced is by citing proverbs. a couples of Americans
studying Japanese have told me the following: (they told me exactly
the same thing.)
--- in Japan people say, "deru kugi ha utareru".
literally, "the nail that sticks out is hammered down."
it means: "don't do anything different from the others;
if you do, you'll be punished."
--- in the USA people say, "the squeaky wheel gets the grease."
it means, "if you complain and make noise, you'll be noticed,
get attention (and thus rewarded)."
--- see how COMPLETELY opposite that is?

Edwin O. Reischauer (famous Harvard Japanologist, ambassador to
Japan during the 1960s) writes:
Whereas the American may seek to emphasize his independence and
originality, the Japanese will do the reverse. As the old
Japanese saying goes, the nail that sticks out gets banged
down. A personality type that in the United States might seem
merely bluff or forceful but still normal is defined in Japan as
a neurotic state. Cooperativeness, reasonableness, and
understanding of others are the virtues most admired, not
personal drive, forcefulness, and individual self-assertion.
in Edwin O. Reischauer, "The Japanese" (1977) Page 135
and "The Japanese Today" (1995) Page 136

well, it's true that those maxims exist in the two cultures. but
the bigger truth is that since both peoples are similarly
conservative, the same kind of maxims abound in both cultures. in
both cultures there are maxims that encourage boldness, as well as
those that recommend conformity.

in Japan there are many proverbs and maxims that encourage people to
be bold, different, and independent.
--- "atatte kudakero"
literally, "go collide and smash into pieces."
it means, "even if you're not sure, go ahead and try it."
like the American expression, "go for broke".
--- "gyuubi to naru yori keitou to nare"
literally, "rather than be a cow-tail, be a chicken-head."
American equivalent: "I'd rather be a big fish in a small
pond than a small fish in a big pond."
--- "i no naka no kawazu"
literally, "a frog in a well".
this and the following both mean the same thing:
"don't be content in your small world; go and explore."
--- "oyama no taishou"
literally, "king of a (small) mountain"
--- "anzuru yori umu ga yasusi"
literally, "easier to actually give birth than as anticipated."
it means, "it's not as hard as you think.", commonly
said in the USA.
--- "kawaii ko ni ha tabi wo saseyo"
literally, "if you love your child, let it travel alone",
for it fosters independence.
--- "shounen yo, taisi wo idake" or "booizu bii anbishasu"
from "Boys, be ambitious!". an American professor named
Clark said this to his Japanese students in Hokkaido early
this century.

in the USA there are some expressions and maxims that recommend
people to be conformist and quiet.
--- "stick out like a sore thumb"
(an expression meaning "to stand out and draw attention";
usually used negatively)
--- "When in Rome do as the Romans do."
(Japanese equivalent: "gou ni itte ha gou ni sitagae")
--- "rock the boat" (usually negative)
--- "make waves" (usually negative, sometimes positive)
--- "go against the current" (usually negative)
--- "silence is golden."
--- "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil."
("mizaru, iwazaru, kikazaru")
--- "Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth."
(Matthew 5:5)

far from what Reischauer and others are trying to show, the proverbs
and expressions in the two cultures strike me with the many
parallels and similarities more than the few differences.

=--------------------------------------------------------------------
---- (2.6) MYTH: Japanese are copycats (cheap imitators of the USA).

"Don't be fooled by a cheap Japanese imitation."
--- Maxwell Smart (Agent 86) in TV show "Get Smart"

THE TRUTH: imitation of American culture does go on in Japan,
but it's nothing like how American media presents it.

The US media promotes the idea of Japanese copycats
in two ways.
(i) by exaggerating any imitation that goes on.
(ii) by suppressing coverage of anything that suggests Japanese
creativity and originality.
I will give examples of both.

---- (2.6.1) how US media exaggerates Japanese imitation

the TIME cover story mentioned earlier (1992 2/10) includes
exactly 3 photographs from Japan.

1. three Japanese men singing country-western-style in a bar,
all wearing cowboy hats. one holds a guitar; the other
two are playing harmonicas.

2. two Japanese boys (elementary school age) dressed completely
in cowboy outfits (cowboy hats, scarfs, leather boots,
handguns, ...) sitting on haystacks in front a barn.
(the caption reads, "Draw, partner: at the Japanese
Disneyland outside Tokyo, children recreate America's
cowboy myth".)

3. three Japanese men of a Tokyo rap group dressed completely
in the way black rap singers dress in the USA.

it is true that present-day Japan is very modern, high-tech, and
westernized. but merely presenting this image isn't enough;
TIME wants to present Japan as a cheap imitator of the USA and
American culture. (also see (FAQ-3) crucified Santa Claus.)

recently I watched a 1-hour PBS TV show entitled "The Japanese
Version" (1991). it was all on Japanese imitation (adaptation)
of American culture: Japanese cowboys in Tokyo, etc.

this reminds me of another American myth. several Americans
asked me to elaborate on what they saw on TV and read in
magazines: that country-western music/fashion is VERY popular
in Japan.
my answer: it isn't.

---- (2.6.2) how US media suppresses coverage of Japanese creativity
and originality

an example: Tezuka's "Jungle King" and Disney's "Lion King".

many people are struck with the similarities between Simba from
Disney's "Lion King" and Kimba from Tezuka's "Jungle King", a
popular Japanese cartoon series that was dubbed into English and
shown on TV in the USA in the 1960s.
the similarities are both in the pictures and the stories:
Both stories feature orphaned lion princes who lose
their crowns to an evil adult lion, then reclaim their
thrones. The good lions are aided by a wise old baboon
and a talkative bird, while the evil lions get help
from hyenas. Kimba's foe was a one-eyed lion named
Claw, and Simba's a lion named Scar. (from an
Associated Press article)
I have stored some articles and GIF files on the subject in my
WWW site. see Section (A) for access information.

it is not clear to me exactly how much Disney borrowed ideas
and images from Tezuka. I think it is entirely possible that
much of it was coincidence and the animators used scenes from
"Kimba" unconsciously. the Japanese animators were convinced
that the similarities were not coincidental, and they sent a
letter to Disney requesting some kind of acknowledgement to
Tezuka. by Sept 1994, 1126 people (animators and others) had
signed the letter. the issue is quite well-known in Japan now.

how US media has been treating the case is to suppress it,
ignore it, and hope that the issue will disappear.
examples:
--- when Newsweek did a cover story on troubles that Disney is
facing (Sept. 5, 1994), "The Lion King" was only
mentioned as "perhaps the biggest moneymaker of all time".
--- out of the hundreds of stories CNN has done on "The Lion
King", I believe there was only one brief report on this
suspected borrowing.
the strategy is working: this issue is almost completely unknown
among the general American public.

see also the case of Sugihara in Section (3.1).

=--------------------------------------------------------------------
---- (2.7) MYTH: Japan is a sexist country.

(2.7.1) sexism in Japan: the American propaganda
--- Japanese men are sexist.
--- Japanese women are mistreated.
--- Japan is one of the most sexist countries in the world.

(2.7.2) sexism in Japan: the truth
THE TRUTH: sexism in Japan is not much worse than in the USA.

=--

[PAULH]

-------------------------------------------------------------------
---- (2.7) MYTH: Japan is a sexist country.

(2.7.1) sexism in Japan: the American propaganda
--- Japanese men are sexist.
--- Japanese women are mistreated.
--- Japan is one of the most sexist countries in the world.

(2.7.2) sexism in Japan: the truth
THE TRUTH: sexism in Japan is not much worse than in the USA.

=--------------------------------------------------------------------
---- (2.7.1) sexism in Japan: the American propaganda

One of the most common themes in US media coverage of Japan is
"Japan is a sexist country".

Edwin O. Reischauer has been the biggest contributor to the
"sexist Japan" image in the USA. In his book "The Japanese
Today" (1995) Reischauer emphasizes sexism to portray Japan as
backward and exotic.

"Chapter 17 Women" opens as follows: "The position of women in
Japanese society is one of the major differences between it and
American society and a subject that is likely to raise
indignation in the West. Japanese men are blatantly male
chauvinists and women seem shamefully exploited and suppressed."

in the last 20 years or so while I've paid close attention to
the US media portrayals of Japan, I have rarely seen a
positive coverage in reports relating to the issues of
relationship between the sexes, sexism, marriage and dating
practices, etc.
(it's possible to report positively: about progress
being made in fighting sexism, about the low divorce
rate and the secrets of Japanese marital success, about
characteristic courtship customs, etc.)

on the other hand, I've seen numerous negative reports.
some recent examples:

--- Newsweek, "Take a Hike, Hiroshi", August 10, 1992, (2 pages).
headline: "Japan's War of the Sexes is heating up ---
because Japan's women are fed up. A report from the front".
the caption to a photograph of 4 young Japanese men
reads, "Self-centered, boorish and predictable? Young
men relax in a resort town".

--- TIME, "Fighting Off HANAYOME BUSOKU", March 21, 1988.
headline: "Villagers cope with a shortage of brides by
recruiting overseas"
"... one reason Japanese women head for the cities is
their inferior position in small-town families. Unless
the status of rural women is elevated, ..."

THE TRUTH: recruiting mail order brides from Asia is a
practice that is much more common in the rich western
nations than in Japan. it is unfair that these
magazines draw attention to mail order brides in Japan,
while neglecting the practice (and its problems) in the
USA and other nations.

--- TIME, "Tying the knot, Japanese style", April 17, 1989.
headline: "A wedding can still be a feast of conspicuous
consumption".
a graph entitled "PRICELY PACKAGE --- Typical costs of a
fancy wedding".
a photograph of a couple: she is dressed in a western
wedding dress; he is dressed like a soldier
(very unusual for a Japanese wedding);
caption: "In a mist of dry ice at a bridal palace
in Tokyo, the happy couple descend to greet
their guests"; together they look very silly.

the hidden message is clear: we know Japanese are rich,
but Japanese spend their money in such stupid ways.

THE TRUTH: a typical expensive Japanese wedding costs no more
than a typical expensive American wedding.

if your main source of information on Japan is mainstream
US media (and movies), then you may actually believe what
has been drummed into your head:
--- Japanese men are sexist.
--- Japanese women are mistreated.
--- Japan is one of the most sexist countries in the world.

often Americans start telling me something like, "I know you're
Japanese, and so I understand that you can be a bit sexist, ..."
at which point I stop them, "whaaat? what have I done or said
which indicates that I'm being sexist?"
and they can't cite even a tiny example.

=--------------------------------------------------------------------
---- (2.7.2) sexism in Japan: the truth

THE TRUTH: sexism in Japan is not much worse than in the USA.

I very much doubt how meaningful it is to compare two
cultures with different histories, and say which one is "more
sexist". To look at superficial differences and drawing
conclusions from them is ludicrous. Is the common practice of
male genital mutilation at birth in the USA (circumcision) a
sign of backwardness? Do the current debates over abortion and
prayer in schools indicate that Americans are too backward to
understand the modern concept of separation of church and state?

Moreover, even by purely Western standards, sexism in Japan is
not much worse than in the USA, as indicated by the following.

(1) sexual violence/harassment against women in the USA is much
more frequent/severe, as compared to in Japan. The number of
reported rapes (per 100,000 women, 1987-89) is 118 in the USA
and 5 in Japan ("Human Development Report 1994" by
U.N._Development Programme).

(2) In Japan the wife is usually more dominant than the husband
in a married couple (especially regarding financial matters).
Even Reischauer, who is obsessed with portraying the Japanese as
sexist, admits this.

(3) Female politician DOI Takako was once the head of the Japan
Socialist Party (JSP), and is now the head of the Lower House
(shuu-giin-gichou). Consider that the current head of JSP
(Murayama) is the prime minister of Japan, and that the Japanese
"head of the Lower House" corresponds to the US Speaker of the
House. Conclusion: Japan is much closer to having a female
national political leader than the USA is.

(4) Male vs. female wage disparity. female wages (as % of male
wages, 1990-92): Sweden_90, Norway_87, France_81, Germany_78,
UK_70, Belgium_64, Canada_63, USA_59, Japan_51 ("Human
Development Report 1994", U.N.D.P.).

One factor in The New York Times and others' compulsive
portrayal of Japan as a sexist country is the US backlash
against feminism. About wage disparity (point (4) above), the
USA may have things to learn from the European nations where
gender equality has been more successful. But instead, these
newspapers report "sexist Japan" to give the message of assurance
and conservatism: "Look at how sexist the Japanese are. We've
gone far enough in the feminism movement. In fact, we've
probably gone too far. We must shift our attention from feminism
to more urgent matters, such as the Japanese economic threat."

American compulsion to portray Asian cultures as sexist is also
seen in "The Joy Luck Club", a film filled with racial/ethnic
prejudice against Asia and racially-Asian men.

=--------------------------------------------------------------------
---- (2. MYTH: Japanese men are either asexual or sex-hungry monsters.

in the US media (TV and movies) Asian men are usually portrayed
as asexual, unromantic creatures. Alan Hu wrote in a Usenet
article:
Asian men are portrayed as: asexual martial arts
masters, asexual viet cong guerrillas, asexual
servants, and asexual geeks.

this is related to the following myths.
MYTH: "Japs are wimps in bed."
MYTH: "Japs have rice dicks." (tiny penises)

when Asian men's sexuality is portrayed at all, the portrayal is
usually negative. this was especially strong in the American
anti-Japanese propaganda during WW2. see, for example, the
poster in John W. Dower's book "War without mercy", Page 189.
the caption reads:
The sexual fears underlying Yellow Peril and
anti-"colored" sentiments are revealed in the poster of
a Japanese soldier carrying off a naked white woman
(figure 13). ...

this was a part of the American propaganda, "evil, sex-hungry Japs".
THIS IS THE ENEMY. BEWARE OF THE JAPS.
We must protect our innocent women from the evil Japs!

there is nothing unusual about that. at the time, similar
anti-US propaganda was going on in Japan too. what is unusual
is that similar American propaganda is going on TODAY, in a
subtler form.
--- US media (The NY Times, etc) was so overjoyed to
report on the "comfort women" issue.
--- US media (even NPR) is so happy to report anything
sexually-perverted about Japanese men.

movies like "Rising Sun" and "Black Rain" (directed by Ridley
Scott) provide ideas and images for the TV shows described below.

|-----------------------------------------------------------------
| Newsgroup: soc.culture.asian.american
| Date: Sat Oct 08 01:07:16 EDT 1994
| From: [email protected] (John Park)
| Subject: Some more racist television?
| Summary: tired of it.
| Keywords: Anti-Asian racist television, boob tube, idiot box,
| brain washer
|
| Did anyone see episode of "Law and Order" on Thursday on NBC?
| It was about a Japanese guy who was described as some sleazy
| rich guy who took advantage of American blonde white girls. The
| Japanese guy got killed early by a blonde American woman who
| claimed that she had battered wife syndrome... One of the
| regular protagonists of the show made some fairly annoying
| anti-Asian comments. Towards the end there was a message about
| the ignorance of Japan bashing but only after wading through a
| thicket of stinging racist diatribes about Japanese (& therefore
| directed toward all Asian) men.
|
| The next day on FOX, the "Mantis" episode was about the Yakuza
| kidnapping the daughter of a mob guy... The screenwriters in
| this show made these Asian men super cruel, and a big organized
| crime threat to "America's city streets." They threatened to
| kill the scared daughter, and "wage war" on the white American
| mob. One or two of the regular protagonists on this show also
| said some pretty stupid and ignorant/racist remarks without
| being challenged or refuted by any of the other characters. For
| example, he called an Asian criminal suspect a "ninja turtle."
| Later on, the black hero talked about Japanese's racism towards
| blacks, and honor of his father who was an air combat pilot or
| something like that (to further accentuate hatred towards
| Japanese/Asian men, to the viewer who is following the story),
| right before he fights a duel in this insipid, racist, and
| hypocritical TV show.
|
| Hmm, I guess these two prime time TV shows hit the usual buttons
| to provoke hate and fear i.e.: "they're out to take and rape our
| women, and take over our country...."
|
| I wonder how this affects all the children who saw these and
| other anti-Asian racist manipu-tainment shows. I mean, not just
| non-Asian kids who watch such television, but also Asian kids as
| well...
|
| Does Michael Crichton have connections with the screenwriters on
| these TV shows? ;-|
|
| -JSP

=--------------------------------------------------------------------
---- (2.9) MYTH: Japanese are rich and hardworking (in a negative way)

In article <...> someone wrote:
>
> (Japanese as rich and hardworking people.)
>
> This is bad?

as Mr Nakamura and Mr Tang point out in Sections (4) and (5),
the depiction of Japanese as rich and hardworking people in
US press is generally cast in negative context.

typically it takes the following form:

from "Coming to grips with karoshi" (TIME, Jan. 30, 1989)
|
| Despite their country's status as the world's biggest
| creditor nation, Japanese workers continue to put in the
| greatest amount of work time of any major industrial country:
| on average, they spend as much as 500 more hours a year on the
| job than do their counterparts in West Germany and France, 200
| more than those in the U.S. and Britain. Only 1 out of 3
| workers enjoys a five-day workweek.

(Tanaka's note:
KAROSHI literally means "overwork-death". every year at least
a few people in Japan die from overwork. this happens in other
western countries too, but there are a few differences: (i)
the number may be slightly higher in Japan. (ii) in other
western countries, people who die from overwork tend to be
executives or self-employed. in Japan this happens to regular
white-collar workers. I believe overwork-death is becoming
increasingly uncommon in Japan in the last 3,4 years.)
(I say "other western country" because I believe that
Japan is both a western country and an Asian country.)

the tone of the mainstream US press is the following:
we know Japan is rich and Japanese people are
hardworking, but we strongly emphasize how terrible
life is over there, and their unfair, sneaky business
practices.

articles are often written in such a way to evoke images from
George Orwell's "1984": a joyless, socially-controlled
high-tech hell.

=--------------------------------------------------------------------
---- (2.10) US media coverage of Japan, Ezra Vogel's "Japan as Number One"

I would characterize US media coverage of Japan as
"generally negative and sometimes malicious".

over the years, I have collected many TIME and Newsweek articles
on Japan. most of them fall under the following categories.
--- clearly negative: treats Japan as sneaky, unfair,
threatening, etc.
--- a "human interest" story with easily-detectable negative
intentions: depicting Japanese as sexist, exotic,
strange, stupid, inscrutable, etc.
--- articles that are completely factual about the value of the
Yen, etc. coupled with the negative treatment of Japan,
these articles contribute to the image of the "faceless,
nameless, ominous threat".

even when the US media says positive things about Japan
--- about its wealth, social order, hardworking people, etc. ---
the hidden message is often, "beware of this ominous threat."

Ezra Vogel's book "Japan as Number One" is a good example of
this. please see the April 3, 1981 issue of "The New York
Review of Books". there is a short article about the book by
Vogel ("To the Editors:", Page 45). in the same issue, Tetsuo
Najita, a Japanese-American professor at Univ of Chicago,
expresses strong displeasure at the "racial reference" that
Vogel made by referring to Najita as "American Nisei".

except for the few recent articles on Sugihara (see Section
(3.1)), I have NEVER seen an US coverage of Japan that is
positive (newspaper, magazine, TV, ...).
(please let me know by e-mail if you find any.)

=--------------------------------------------------------------------
---- (2.11) positive images of Japan in the USA

Some people pointed out these positive images of Japan and
the Japanese:
--- safe society (no guns)
--- low unemployment, few homeless people
--- no graffiti or vandalism
--- corporate management based on harmony rather than confrontation
--- good education system (esp. math and science; elementary and
middle schools)
--- hardworking, industrious (in a good sense)
--- long life expectancy (healthy people; healthy diet)
--- honest people
actually some of these I take issue with (like "corporate
management based on harmony"), but this is not the place for that.

=--------------------------------------------------------------------
-- (3) images of the USA in Japan

---- (3.1) Japanese media coverage of the USA --- mostly positive

when I was in Japan this summer, I was shocked by the favorable
way Japanese media covers the USA. more than anything else, I
was overwhelmed by the volume of it. a person with no
knowledge of Japanese society but with a good knowledge of the
Japanese language, looking at Japanese TV and newspapers may
conclude that Japan is a part of the United States, and that
Clinton is the head of state of Japan.

I kept seeing more and more examples.

--- NHK's coverage of World Cup Soccer 1994.
the coverage and interest was huge, because it took place
in Japan's favorite country, the USA. but Japan didn't
have a contingent, so NHK did the obvious and treated the
US team as if it was representing Japan. (more coverage
than the other teams, etc.) the most striking example was
when the US team lost to Brazil. the announcer kept saying
things like, "the American team did a wonderful job, but we
all know that the Brazilian team is an excellent team with
a long history. we must give the American team a big
hand." all the while giving very little attention to the
winners, the Brazilian team.

--- NYC streetside misc help. (like Lucy's in the "Peanuts" cartoon)
in a TV show there was a story about a group of 3 white
American women in NYC, offering misc. help and advice on a
streetside. (advice on romance, jobs, what to get as a gift,
etc.) they are working on a book about their experience.

--- for the last 5,6 years, every Sunday night around midnight
TBS airs a 1-hour long show entitled "CBS document". it
usually consists of three segments from CBS programs such
as "20/20" or "60 minutes"(?). Japanese and English sound
tracks are available. understanding of and interest for
American society among the general Japanese public is so
great that this is commercially feasible.

these things really made me gasp. except for the few recent
articles on Sugihara, I have NEVER seen an US coverage of
Japan that is positive (newspaper, magazine, TV, ...),
and comparable to these above.

but again, the articles on Sugihara are not comparable at all.
in order for a Japanese to get any kind of good publicity in the
USA he must risk his life, save 8000 Jews, get imprisoned in
Russia, and die in obscurity. for an American to get good
publicity in Japan is very easy.
(any American person who goes to Japan to teach English
can easily become a local celebrity, through articles in
the local newspaper, etc.)

since Japanese people are generally so favorable toward the USA
and Americans, they little suspect the negative ways Japan is
covered in the media and the way Japanese people are treated in
the USA.
(this reminds me of the Arawaks and Columbus, as well as
the white Americans and many native American tribes.
having good intentions, not doubting the goodness of
others proved deadly for the naive peoples. see Howard
Zinn's book, "A people's history of the United States")

when I tell my friends in Japan that I've been called "Jap",
"Nip", "Nipponese", "Tanaka-san" (in a derisive way), etc. by
white Americans, many of them can't believe it.
(this morning an American friend of mine used the
phrase "I know you `Tojo's!" in a conversation. he
didn't mean any harm, and I wasn't offended. still,
the fact that such a phrase is alive and well must be
unbelievable to most Japanese.)

in general, Japanese media coverage of the USA and European
countries are unfairly positive, while Japanese media coverage
of Korea and other Asian countries are unfairly negative.

=--------------------------------------------------------------------
---- (3.2) negative images of the USA in Japan

Some people also pointed out some negative stereotypes that
Japanese have. of these, the only one that is common and
overemphasized in Japan is "all of the USA is unsafe
(crime-filled)". I try to correct this misconception at every
opportunity by pointing out that there are many safe towns in
the USA, like Bloomington, IN, where I live. I feel as safe
here as when I'm in Tokyo.

=---

[canuck]

[moshimoshi]

Thanks, JimDunlop2! I really liked the Canadian trivia too! I'll send you the quiz when I finish it.

I know the tip percentage is just a general guideline, but it's typically followed. I personally always liked to receive more. I just felt the need to include it as a few weeks ago, I did a lesson about restaurants. When I asked my students what they thought the standard tip percentage was in the US their resposes were way off: 1 1/2%, 5%, etc.

Just to be clear, most of the Japanese people who I have encountered with these misconceptions were very nice and well meaning. (For example, they brought me silverware to a cherry blossom party because they thought I couldn't use chopsticks.) I'm hoping to make it a light-hearted quiz and not one with really negative stereotypes. Thanks for your help!

[guest of Japan]

Geez PaulH that was lengthly. I read most of it and I can understand the authors frustrations, but he simply glosses over reality with distorted statistics. An example I cite is the comparison of wage ratios between the US and Japan. He states Japan as being 51 percent and the US as being 59 percent. But he never took into account factors like separate career tracks for men and women, or women being pushed out of the companies to raise families. He doesn't examine the office environment where women are expected to serve the men tea and snacks despite holding the same postion as the men.

His comparative critique of the distortion of history is also misleading. He does not go into the actual omissions from texts. He doesn't mention that textbooks in America do not get approved for content by the national government. They are done on a state level and Texas since it has a huge population of students figures prominently in the conservative nature of the texts. Comparing potiticians making vague apologies doesn't have much validity since only one of the two nations was facing a united international outcry over past attrocities.

Finally, he doesn't take into account that nearly every blemish to Japanese culture is significantly under reported, thus leaving inaccurate statistics. These failings range from rapes, suicides, organized crime statistics to educational standards and literacy rates. Negative things disappear.

[Gordon]

Jim Dunlop,
I do believe that both hockey and lacrosse are Canada's national sports. I think they changed it about 5 years ago because we are so darn passionate about the game.